» 49ers quarterback Alex Smith is like a station wagon. In time, he can get you where you want to go, but it isn't always pretty. Colin Kaepernick is like a Ferrari. He can get you there in a flash and look good doing it. So far, "Kap" hasn't crashed and has performed well enough maybe to put Smith in the garage for now.

» The Pacific men's basketball team made a nice showing at the DirecTV Classic last week in Anaheim. The Tigers knocked off Xavier and Saint Mary's to reach the championship against Cal. Each game was on the ESPN network. Great exposure for the team and coach Bob Thomason, who's in his 25th and final season. Pacific plays Saturday at Gonzaga.

» Creighton Sanders, a veteran Sacramento television sportscaster on KXTV and KCRA, died Sunday at age 85. Sanders was KXTV's first full-time sports reporter in 1960 and joined KCRA in 1980. He reportedly had the private phone numbers for Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays and Joe Montana. "Noboby had that kind of access," former KCRA anchor Walt Gray told The Sacramento Bee.

» Stockton's Bob Foy and other area San Jose State football supporters can celebrate the program's first 10-win season since 1987. The Spartans beat Louisiana Tech 52-43 on Saturday in a game that featured 1,151 yards combined. San Jose State is 10-2 and No. 25 in the BCS rankings and awaiting a bowl invitation.

» Spartans football coach Mike MacIntyre said Monday he has not been contacted by Kentucky or Cal about their current vacancies. MacIntyre said about San Jose: "I love it here."

» The NHL is calling on the feds to help end the lockout that has forced the cancellation of games well into December as well as the Winter Classic and All-Star Game in January. The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service will work with the players' union and owners. The feds working to reach an equitable agreement between rival factions? That's a laugh.

» St. Mary's products Afure Jemerigbe and Chelsea Gray will be on opposite ends of the court Sunday when Jemerigbe and No. 10 Cal (5-0) visit Gray and the No. 4 Blue Devils (4-0) at Duke. On Sunday, Gray scored a season-high 22 points and had 10 assists in an 82-59 win over Xavier. Jemerigbe has started all five of Cal's games and averages 10 points.

» Giants tight end Martellus Bennett channeled his inner super hero when he made a potentially life saving catch of a middle-aged man who fell over the railing some 15 feet above the concrete floor near the tunnel at MetLife Stadium after New York's 38-10 win on Sunday over the Packers. "I'm usually a ninja," Bennett said, "but my Spidey-senses told me he was going to take a fall, so I saved his life."